WinterNights
by TheRedPenofDoom87
Summary: Companion piece to Fisherman's Daughter. Astrid's got a choice to make, with a little help from her mother


So...as I told Fjord Mustang, I wouldn't write another one unless the fancy struck...and it did. I wanted to do something when Hiccup and Astrid are older, seventeenish. This is a companion to Fisherman's Daughter, but not a sequel. I might do another one. with more dragons, perhaps :) I didn't want it to be lovey-dovey but still sort of romanitic

Dislciamer: I own nothing. Its all dreamworks and Cressida Cowell.

* * *

In the month before she turns seventeen, the inquiries start. They start out innocently enough; a comment here, an observation there. Some speculation. It doesn't amount to much. Her father simply reports them to her in a calm tone, empty of any judgment and Astrid laughs most of them off while she helps repair her father's fishing nets before he heads out again. It's a quiet early fall night. But this far north, there is already a chill in the air, one that makes Signy perch herself next to Astrid and try to soak up as much of the heat from the fire.

_Wimpy dragon_, Astrid grins to herself as she plucks a loose spine from Signy's tail and threads it with twine to repair a rather large hole in her father's net.

"I talked to Snoutlout's father today," her father says quietly. He looks up from his work to gauge her reaction. No one would doubt they're related; they have the same blue eyes, the same fair hair but her father towers over her. She got her height from her mother. He's a quiet sort of man, for his size, always has been and probably always will.

"Oh…?" Astrid replies as she tugs the spine through a few holes. For a girl who's sworn herself to be a warrior woman's daughter, this is one of the few times Astrid will actually sit still for more than five minutes at a time. Even as a small child, she would find peace in navigating the holes in her father's fishing nets, making them whole again…

"What do you think?" She can hear the grin in his voice. Raising this girl mainly on his own, he's allowed her more freedoms than most girls. Namely the freedom to speak her mind.

"Aren't you supposed to tell me?" She quips back, smiling. She knows how unusual the pair of them are but relishes the choices she can make for herself.

Her father reaches over and ties off the loose ends. "The twin's father too."

"My birthday isn't for another month," She muses, running her finger over the spine's edge.

"Either way, there seems there's a lot of interest," he replies. "Not surprising. You take after your mother."

It's the highest compliment Astrid could receive from him. She re-directs her attention to her dragon and strokes he iridescent blue scales. "Will you be back before then?" While she has the freedom to choose, she still wants him around.

He nods. "I will, if there aren't any storms. But I won't be here for Winternights."

She accepts this with a nod and hands her father the fixed net. "Don't get eaten by any sea monsters, okay?" She leans down to kiss his forehead.

He pats her cheek. "I'll try not to. Don't let the house catch fire."

Astrid points up to Signy, as she starts up the stairs for her bed. "Tell her that."

He pats the dragon's nose before he leaves. "You keep her safe, huh?" Signy huffs out a deep breath. As if he really needs to make the request. "Astrid."

She stops on the stairs and looks down. "Yeah, Dad?"

He reaches over and puts his hand over her boot. "Take as much time as you want. You'll make the right choice."He gives her one final wave before he shuts the door behind him. Signy twists her head to look at Astrid for assurance and Astrid shrugs.

She'd expected this all this. It's only a matter of time before this, she knows. There came a time when the boys she grew up with, playing tag and kill the dragon with, would all become strangers. Their life became separate from hers. She knew it wouldn't be for long but still it was hard. And now they were returning to her, not as friends, as they once had been, but as new people entirely. But she also realizes that a certain one legged blacksmith's apprentice's father hasn't spoken to hers.

The days that proceeded are normal ones for Astrid and Signy, filled with normal chores and extra ones to prepare for Winternights. She spends as much time away from her empty house, except to work on her dress. And yes, she is wearing a dress to the festival. A simple blue wool one that once belonged to her mother. The only company she wants is Signy's, who is always there to offer a tail spine and a sympathetic ear as she re-adjusts it to fit her diminutive size. While the others have grown taller, Astrid remains small. Even Ruffnut is taller by a good four inches. They forget, sometimes, that she was one of the most feared dragon killing recruits and that Stoick himself, once told her father that he had never seen anyone handle an axe the way she did.

Winternights is one of her favorite holidays. The one day of the year when the veil between this world and the next is thinnest. Besides the ability to feel her mother's presence, the best food is served, and Gobber tells his best stories. This year is no different. By the time she and Signy arrive, the party is in full swing. She waves hello to her friends, visits with the Elder as she does every year since she was small. She sits with Ruffnut and Fishlegs but avoids Snotlout and Tuffnut as much as she can, often hiding behind Fishlegs.

As the party wears on into the night and Gobber is well into his third story and fourth mug of ale, Astrid realizes that she hasn't seen Hiccup at all. That's when she notices that the Gobber's workshop is still lit. A sudden breeze pushes through an accidently open window (thouh later, Astrid will wonder if it was accidental in the first place, it is Winternights) and pushes her in the direction of the door. So she and Signy sneak out and head down to the workshop without anyone being the wiser. Astrid thanks her mother for this little push out the door.

As always the sleek black Night Fury is curled up near the door. He raises his head, eyes narrow at the intrusion. But when he recognizes Astrid and Signy, he relaxes. She leans down and pats his head and the dragon heaves a sigh of contentment. Signy curls up next to Toothless, waiting for Astrid to be done.

Hiccup is fast asleep on his desk, just as she thought. She raises her finger to her lips to both dragons and tip toes around him to see what he's working on.

Scattered across the desk are new designs for his leg, even though he only just made a new one about a year ago, he's gotten taller), one for the winter time, a new one to go along with a new, sleeker saddle. There are designs for other saddles, other dragons. Some for wintertime hunting, some for fishing. She notices a Nadder was the model for most of these maritime ones.

There are new fishing net designs too, made with a metal thread through it, to make it more durable. "Fewer repairs", he's listed. He probably doesn't know that she likes to repair those nets, to make them whole again.

She carefully shifts a few papers around and beneath them is a design for a necklace, a tiny perfect nadder charm. In his chicken scratch writing there are small notes; measurements, a list of metals that could potential be used and a question that looks as if it's been scratched out: 'Would she say yes?'

She glances down at the boy, who looks more like a man now a days, with his height and broad shoulders befitting a blacksmith. Compared to some of the others, he's still thin. He probably always will be. His face is still boyishly slim and smooth with freckles that she hopes won't ever go away.

Grinning to herself, she taps him gently on the shoulder.

He nearly jumps out of his skin. When he comes to himself, he realizes Astrid's there. "Wh-Who-What? Astrid?" he breathes. He looks for Toothless. "Why didn't you wake me?" he asks the dragon.

Toothless merely yawns at Hiccup, stretching briefly and then returns to his snooze. "Stupid dragon…" Hiccup curses. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and realizes that Astrid is indeed standing there, he leaps up hastily covers his drawings. "Hey Astrid…hey, um…hey-"

She can't help but let out a little giggle pass her lips. "Hi, Hiccup…have a nice nap?"

"Yeah…I can't believe I was out for so long-" He stops suddenly, looking fixedly at her.

She looks down, thinking that maybe Signy set her skirt on fire to distract them from their sudden awkwardness with one another. She can't remember the last time they were alone like this and to her disgust, she can feel a blush rising on her cheeks. When she returns his gaze, he still can't seem to focus fully. "What?" She demands finally.

He shakes his head. "You…um…" he points. "You're wearing a dress."

She rolls her eyes in a show of absolute confidence. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she could pull off one of her mother's old gowns. But with a few stitches here and a hem there, maybe it hadn't turned out so bad. That and she had, literally, let her hair down. "What? I wear a skirt all the time."

He seems to come back to himself a little. "Yeah." He blinks a few times. "Right. So, I guess I'm missing the party?"

She looks out to see the Hall bright with lights, the shouts of their friends and families, the roars and purrs of the dragons. She thinks of how her father isn't there, but Snotlout and Tuffnut are and how she much rather be here in the quiet with a one-legged black smith's apprentice and their two dragons. "Too much of a party," she confides.

"Yeah?" he offers her the only chair but she doesn't sit.

She shrug and instead perches herself on the desk. "Reminds me of when we were little and we all had to stay with the Elder when our parents were away. Remember?"

He nods and sits back in his seat. "It was always really loud. The twins never stopped fighting. And Snotlout would chase everyone around…." He stops. "Actually, that really hasn't changed much."

She smiles, looking down at tips of her boots that peek out from under the hem of the gown. "You know…Snotlout's father's been talking to mine lately." He's got to know her birthday is in a month, that she'll have to make a choice soon.

"I heard," is all he says, gazing down at his left leg. It's been nearly four years since and she's never seen him dwell on losing his foot. But, she reasons, it probably is something that will always stay with him.

"And Tuffnut's." She adds quietly. 'My father thinks it's funny…The way they're carrying on."

"What do you think?" He asks carefully.

"I feel like a fish head being fought over by two Terrors," She blurts out. Immediately she claps her hand over her mouth but it doesn't stop the laughter. She hasn't said this to anyone but Signy. She lets loose a loud laugh and to her delight, he laughs too. And just like that, they are friends they way they used to be. They maybe older and not look the same but there is that thread that connects them. Makes them whole. She grins at the thought.

"Yeah, well…" Hiccup starts when he gets his voice back. "You're the prettiest girl in Berk-" He stops short, a bright blush erupts under his freckles. "And smart too…and brave…and…"

"Yeah, yeah," She waves a dismissive hand. "I get it, Sneeze, thanks."

There is a sudden silence that over takes them both. For a brief moment, they can only hear the soft breathing of their dragons, the crackle of the fire and the slowly melting wax of the lamp on Hiccup's desk. This silence, of course, is filled with so many unsaid things that neither could find the right one to say. It's silly, she knows. It used to be she could say whatever came to mind (granted most of it wasn't very nice). It used to be, she never thought much of what she looked like nor could she remember when it started to matter.

Quite possibly, it was when Hiccup grew seven inches in less than a year, or when he smiles at her, or maybe it's the fact that he is going to ask her. Not her father, not his. Just her.

"I-I think I should-we," Astrid points to Signy. "That we should head home."

"I'll walk with you!" Hiccup practically shouts as he leaps up, and in the process hooks his left leg on the table's and nearly hits the floor. Toothless gives a dry deep guffaw in the darkness. Astrid thinks maybe she heard Hiccup mutter something about a smoked eel in the dragon's breakfast tomorrow.

The shouts from the hall can still be heard the farther they walk through the dark village. Signy waddles in front, though looks back over her shoulder like a good chaperone would. As they walk, she can feel the heat from his hand. It's so close she could reach out and take it, she looks down to them and notices that Hiccup is looking down too. They both smile at each other and look away.

When they reach Astrid's house, Signy leaps up onto her perch and climbs in Astrid's open window, disappearing from sight. Astrid opens her front door and starts to open her mouth to say…something, anything-

"…'Night, Astrid," he says quietly, smiling in that way of his and turns to go.

"Hiccup!" She calls with more confidence than she feels. She grips the door for support. Signy hops down the stairs and pokes her head through the door.

He turns smiling in the darkness. "What?"

"I'll say 'yes', you know." She leans against the door, smiling. "When you ask."

He stands there in the dark, the only light is from the stars and the moon falling on his confused but pleased face. "How..?"

She shrugs. "I'll say yes." She promises.

* * *

Note: Winternights, is sort of the Norse (and I'm generalizing, and got the info off the web, don't take me at face value. I could be wrong) equivelant to the Celtic Samhain. It's sort of a Harvest festival and a time to reflect and honor those who have passed on.

so what do ya think?


End file.
